Blue Hood the Bat
by Punisher's Apprentice
Summary: Blue Hood is the son of the Red Hood, Jason Todd's son Jay. This is their life in the Batfamily.


DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of DC.

* * *

Bruce became aware of Jason's new partner, Blue Hood, and frustrated by the lack of evidence pointing towards anyone. From the few images of the new Outlaw he found, Bruce was able to deduce a lot about the person. He knew Blue Hood was most likely a child, under the age of 10 (younger than any Robin), analysis of the images yielded clothing sizes. Red Hood and Arsenal showed no protective instinct that Batman could detect. Who's Blue Hood? For a while, Bruce decided to let it go since the child wasn't linked to anything serious but it ate away at the Dark Knight. None of the other Batboys had sidekicks but then again none of the other Batboys had multiple warrants out for them.

Bruce called Jason and tried to get some information about Blue Hood out of him. Jason dodged, skillfully navigating the conversation and giving nothing away. Bruce turned the phone call into an invitation to a family dinner but Jason refused, diplomatically. Did Jason get smarter? Who's Blue Hood?

The real head of the Batfamily, Alfred ordered all of the Batboys over for the dinner Master Bruce planned with his phone call, telling Jason his team was a part of the family. Jason knew her couldn't avoid it. The duo came to dinner last, Jason said "This is my son, Jay and he's Blue Hood."

The Batfamily looked over the kid, he was a miniature Jason. He had black hair, eerie blue eyes with the posture and style to match his father. He was generally shy towards most of the family but in a way that showed loyalty to Jason, as if someone younger than Robin's age could be so tactical.

Bruce started a fight as soon as the words left Jason's mouth over teaching Jay crime. As if Damian or Jason had better upbringings. Dick defended Jason, arguing it's Jason's call how he wants to raise the boy. Slipping away from the conflict, Jay asked Barbara "Is it always like this?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Alfred entered the dining room "Master Jason is the boy's father, it's his call how to raise the boy."

Jay had clearly become the boy but Alfred's phrasing confused him. Jay quietly questioned, "Master?"

Alfred explained "I am the Wayne family butler, Jay was it?" Jay nodded. Then Alfred got everyone to sit down and stop yelling, a veritable miracle with tempers flared upon Jay's introduction.

Jason and Jay took the two open seats by Barbara. Dick asked "So who's his mom?"

"Depends on when you ask," Jason answered. Everyone glared at him, "She changed it. The name on Jay's birth certificate doesn't match the name on her grave."

Tim asked "What is Jay's full name?"

Jason took a moment to point to each family member, "Dick, Bruce, Damian, Tim, Alfred," pointing to Jay's other side, "Barbara."

Jay nodded, "Jay Lawrence Todd."

Jason explained "Took some time to find his original birth certificate but just like his mom, he didn't use the name on it so I changed it to the name he was using when I took custody."

Bruce asked "Who gives custody of a child to someone with multiple warrants out for their arrest?"

Jason put a hand on Jay's shoulder, "The same kind of idiot that doesn't realize the child's an orphan for five months after their mother dies and only noticed when I tried to get custody. It was a buyout. Give me custody and we'll keep pretending you're competent at your job."

Bruce relaxed back in his seat but Jason was on a warpath now and Alfred wasn't going to break it up again. "I should've known when Alfred insisted I bring the Outlaws with me it was because you wanted to take Jay away from me. You wanted that and you hadn't even met him yet. Like you did any better as a father. When I met Jay he'd shoot a bartender for not letting him drink and he's still over ten years under the legal age. You wanna talk about getting him into crime, he was already in it and it's not like you know anything about getting a kid like that to be a good boy. If you did this wouldn't be a problem. would it?"

Jay stood on his chair and put a hand over Jason's mouth, if anyone else had tried that they'd lose a hand. Jason calmed his son and eased Jay back into his seat, "He was born in Kasnia, he's not even American if you did want to take custody."

Bruce saw Jay stop Jason's warpath before anything got broken, he said "I'm sorry Jason. I shouldn't have said that."

Damian was surprised to see his father apologize. Dick chuckled, "Guess Damian has to call Jaybird by his real name. Now that there are two Todds."

Jay said "We just met."

Dick smiled, awkward, "Jaybird is Jason."

Jay asked "How old are you?"

Jason answered "Older than me, 'cept he never died."

Tim said "Born in Kasnia?"

Jason replied "He's not American is the point."

Dick said "Barbara, help."

Barbara asked "How old are you, Jay?"

"6."

Bruce said "You're 6 years old."

"According to the American calendar, I think."

Jason said "12 months, 365 days."

"Yeah." Jay said, "Shouldn't you know since you had my name changed, you should know my birth date."

"6 sounds about right."

Barbara asked "How long have you lived with Jason?"

Jay shut his trap after his brief argument with Jason, his dad answered "2, 3 years. The gun thing is not my fault," Jason held his hands up in surrender, "That is not my fault. To this day I haven't figured out how he tied up Roy."

He looked at Jay, "He was so easy. You shoulda kept me tied up after you found the gun."

Dick asked "How does a," he quickly double checked the math and got even more confused, "How does a three year old beat Green Arrow's old partner?"

"I just said I don't know how he did it."

Jay said "You never will."

"I've asked you how many times?"

"Wasn't really a big deal at the time." He looked at his dad, "How does Roy not remember?"

"Like he'd tell me."

"Remember the day we did the blood test," Jason facepalmed his yes. "Like he can keep his mouth shut well enough to keep anything from anyone? Aside from you?"

"What do you know I don't?"

"Lian Harper."

"No idea who that is." Jason guessed, "Sister? Mother? Wife?"

"Try dead daughter."

"Roy never had a kid."

"Did too."

"Like he could keep his mouth shut," He lost his steam and facepalmed, "I'd ask how you know but I have a feeling you wouldn't tell me."

"I told you a million times but you're not convinced it's a real thing."

"Because it's a b+Bat thing."

Dick interrupted, "Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled,"

Jason cut him off, he told Jay "No."

Dick asked "No, what?"

"He said no killing you."

"What?!"

"He's so easy," whined Jay.

"You kill Dick, Damian will kill you."

"What?!" Dick said "Don't even joke."

"Roy tells the jokes," Jay pouted.

Jason smirked, "You are easy. He wasn't gonna kill you but you should know better than to bud in on parenting," he waved at Damian. Dick started stuttering.

Tim said "Jason!"

"What, repla- ow!" Jay slapped his dad and Jason rephrased, "What, Tim?"

Tim waved to Dick, Jason said annoyed, "Alright!" He turned to Dick, "Jay wasn't gonna kill you."

Dick stopped stuttering, "What was the no for?"

"You were acting like Roy, who is still very much alive so take a guess."

"Oh."

Jason caught Barbara's wrist as she went to ruffle Jay's hair, "I wouldn't."

Jay looked innocent, if back to being shy. Tim asked "Are you sure you're related?"

Jay answered, "We like to shoot people and wear the hoods, what more do you need?"

Jason looked at Bruce observing his sons exchanges, "Nothing to say?"

Damian asked "Father?"

Having never met anyone at the table, other than Jason, Jay said "Son of Batman," guessing Damian's favorite catchphrase.

Bruce shook his head, "I still don't like this arrangement you have with custody of Jay."

After dinner the family went into the Batcave. Alfred insisted "Jay is as much a member of the family as Damian." The son of Batman didn't like the comparison.

They went to the grandfather clock, Alfred turned the hands and they piled into the elevator. Jason kept Jay close on one side so Damian didn't start a fight. Babs was there in case Bruce started another one. Dick thankfully stuck with Tim to keep an eye on the Waynes, not getting too close to Jay. In truth, Alfred kept everyone in line. Bruce came up with being the Batman but Alfred raised Bruce so he was truly the first Bat.

Bruce reiterated as they left the elevator, "I don't approve of this arrangement." By the Batcomputer, he continued, "If you insist on keeping Jay as Blue Hood, I'll support you."

Jason said "Thanks. How exactly?"

As Bruce moved from the computer after starting a transfer, Barbara closed in on Jay, joining Damian duty. Bruce gave Jason two packs, inside was Bat-armor. Jay kicked his dad. Jason said, "Thanks."

Dick knelt down before the youngest Bat "Welcome to the family." He moved to ruffle Jay's hair, Jay seized his arm and twisted it.

"Jay!" Jason scolded and Dick's arm was released. Damian probably liked Dick the most of his brothers. Jason dropped the packs and pulled out a Batarang as Damian moved to Dick's defense. The tension snapped. Jay ran to a motorcycle, ready to hotwire.

Bruce called "Enough." Jason and Damian backed off. "Dick, tend your arm. Barbara, Tim, take Jay upstairs."

Jay followed Barbara, Tim close behind, "How did you wind up with Jason?"

"Found him. Blood proves I'm his son. What's up with Damian?"

"Long story. Short version: bad blood. Seriously, Jason just happened to be your dad or you knew who he was?"

"Jason didn't recognize my mom, sometimes I didn't with her tricks. He's your son was her favorite con, fooled some bosses. Jason got me to stop killing."

"What?"

"Give the son of a con-artist single-mom a gun, what's supposed to happen? Took a few weeks before Roy figured out we're related."

Barbara shut Tim up before he could continue questioning and they took Jay to the TV room, "Theatre?" was Jay's response.

Tim questioned "You said your mom fooled bosses, you've never seen a TV?"

"He's your son, pay up. It was all about child support. That's why Jason didn't know he was a dad."

Tim explained "It's a TV."

"When Jason doesn't want me on a job, Roy arranges a motel for TV. He's got video games for me." Tim picked a movie.

After Bruce scolded his two sons for the stand-off they came upstairs. Jay bounded over to the elevator before anyone knew what was happening. He quickly surveyed the damage done, "We came to the dinner. Can we leave now?"

Jason answered "Yeah."

As they approached the room's threshold Barbara ran over "Why did you bother going down to the cave if you were just here for dinner?"

"I didn't think it'd be a problem."

She grabbed Jason's arm and whispered a question in his ear, "Why did Jay attack Dick?"

Jason put an hand on Jay's shoulder, "Probably startled him. This whole thing was a mistake." Barbara let them leave.

On their way out, Jay picked up the bags they checked at the door. As they left the manor Jason said "That could've gone better."

Jay asked as they put their helmets on, "Why did we even come? They're not gonna accept us."

"Jay, that's how it works. We wear the Bat symbol, we're in the family."

"Are we going to work or your apartment?"

"We're going to work, we both need to let off some steam."

"You say that a lot but usually you're the one that needs it. Lead the way, Bat."

Jason said "We'll need to stop to gear up." Jay took the lead, taking them to a Crime Alley apartment. "Good choice."

"It says Crime Alley on my GPS," Jay responded as they went upstairs to their apartment.

In the apartment Jay gave his dad the bags he'd carried up. Jason opened the bags Bruce gave them. Setting the bag on the living room table, he pulled out the armor with the blue Bat symbol and realized Bruce had given them each whole armored suits, the same style they already wore. Jason set the blue suit to one side of the bag on the coffee table then pulled out his. They were both light weight, easy enough for Jay to carry both if needed. Jay's felt different. Bruce knew Blue Hood was a kid and had better armor made for him, the Batcomputer must've determined his size. Jason put the bag holding the armor down, after removing the other gear. He kept doling equipment out as he picked up the bags Jay brought in and separated their weapons, keeping most of the live ammo either in the bag or in his pile and arming Jay with the non-lethal stuff Bruce provided. Jason walked over to the couch, sat down and gestured for Jay to sit beside him. He had to explain the rules "Here in Gotham we don't kill. We don't want to give Bruce a reason to take custody of you and have me thrown in prison. He gave us a lot of non-lethal ammo, so use that stuff as much as possible."

Jay said "So in Gotham we follow the rules."

"You're lucky Bruce didn't have the paperwork ready to steal custody from me. There's only one rule in Gotham: no killing criminals using guns. Batman would probably be a hypocrite and insist it's just no killing so as far we're concerned that's the rule. We can still hospitalize the guys all we want."

"My ammo is probably all tranqs."

"Good point but there's just so many ways to kill. If you screw up and do it here, I'll never keep custody. Do you want to be Damian's brother?"

"No."

"Suit up, let's go bust some drug dealers and work our way up the food chain. We're staying here for a week."

"Why?! I don't need their approval. Why are we letting them rule our lives?"

"If they like you, they'll like me. If they like me, we'll get access to the Batcomputer. With access to the Batcomputer, everything we do gets a whole lot easier. When things are easy, I have more time to teach you how to beat up criminals so you can hospitalize them instead of using tranq guns. How does that sound?"

"You're trying to play me."

"Right now I'm trying not to break the table with my fist. Suit up." Jay took his pile and left, Jason went over to the window and opened it, "Really, Bruce? Tailing us?"

Batman came in, "Jay's a good kid. Are you really staying the week?"

"Jay's a good kid 'cause he doesn't want you to take custody. He'd probably become antisocial at the Manor. We're staying the week. I wanna sync our helmets to the Batcomputer so we can identify the players when we bust gangs. You know, on boring Saturday nights." Jason took off his shirt and put on the armor, he went behind the kitchen counter, "I figure we can bust up a few gangs while we're here. Maybe I can take Jay into the cave and teach him to use some of your weapons." He came out in the armored trousers, "By the way, how do you plan Jay and I will keep those tranq rounds stocked? We don't exactly have a stable mailing address." He armed himself.

Batman said "You're right. I do want Jay to live with me at the Manor but you're also right he behaves for you."

"Are you offering me a deal, Batman?"

Jay called "Dad?"

Jason said "Don't move." He ran down the hall to where the voice was coming from, "What's up?" Bruce stayed in the living room, watching as Jason came into the room Jay was in.

Jay asked his dad "How'd you change so fast?"

Jason said "Years of practice. Arms up." Jay put his arms up and Jason got the armor off. "Here's the problem," He pulled a shirt off the armor, "This goes under the armor. You don't wanna cover the Bat in Gotham." Jay nodded and Jason ruffled his hair, as he grabbed something discarded from the armor bundle "This is a mask in case you have to take the helmet off, like if the mic stops working. Is there anything else you need help with?"

Jay said "Nope," pulling the under shirt on then grabbing the Bat-armor.

Jason said "I'll be in the living room if you get stuck again, the Bat goes on the front and leave your jacket unzipped tonight."

Jason returned to his talk, Batman took a step back. "You were watching that," Jason deduced from the movement, "Jay's pretty independent but Bat-armor is a new concept for him, a costume is almost an alien one to begin with." Jay sat down on the couch, "What were we talking about?"

"I said you're also right he behaves for you but you didn't let me finish. I was going to say you also behave for him. You're a good influence on each other. Jay talked to Barbara and Tim after they left the cave, he told them about his mother's scams. I don't think Jay will ever trust us without your support."

"That is not how I thought this conversation was going to go. I honestly thought you were going to threaten to use your better image with the courts to take him away if I didn't straighten up. How much did Jay tell them?"

"He said you got him to stop killing. I can relate to that."

"Did he tell them why he started? We might have to talk more later. I promised the kid a night's work and he'll probably finish suiting up soon. He's not too hot on you right now. I think we can change that in a week. Just tell Dick not to touch him and work with Damien on this nephew thing, that'll go a long way if you can stop being you."

"Thank you, Jason."

"Bruce, seriously. How are we going to restock on those tranq rounds? They can make my parenting job a whole lot easier."

"We'll think of something by week's end."

"Dad? Where's my helmet?"

Jason said "Go, he's probably got the armor done." Bruce left through the window while Jason ran down the hall, knocking on the door he said "Did you check your pocket? It's probably still in your old jacket."

Jay said "Found it."

Jason ran to the kitchen to finish arming. As Jay came in, he said "Bag your clothes and make a pile with the bags." Jason tossed him a bag and he obeyed.

On the roof, Robin asked "Was going in really necessary? He said he was staying for a week."

As they both got into the Batmobile, Batman said "You're going to behave around them from now on. Just where were you while I was in the apartment? I thought I told you to stay in the Batmobile."

"You did, I was busting some miscreants."

"Damien."

"I saw something in the alley and I stopped it, like we're supposed to."

"As long as it wasn't a drug deal, I'm going to let Jason take care of those tonight. Let's see what Gordon needs."

Armored up, the two Hoods hit the streets. As they rode away from the apartment, Jason said "I'm going to teach you some maneuvers Batman and Robin use. First, the adult always leads. While I draw their fire you take down the muscle, or in this case, the customer." He stopped by an alley deal, turning his mic on "Hey! No dealing to kids!"

Like clockwork, the men pulled guns and started shooting. As instructed Blue Hood took out the customers, leaving the primary dealer for Red Hood, who shot the man's arm. All Bat-armor was bulletproof so getting shot wasn't a big deal. Blue Hood kept his distance and let Red lead. His dad pulled a great Batman, stalking towards the dealer while the man held his arm. Red Hood said "I want names. Who do you work for? Who's your supplier? Who else deals? Tell me or that wound will be the least of your worries."

The man said "You think you're Batman or something."

"No. Batman doesn't kill. I do." Red held his gun to the man's chest, Jay switched helmet displays to see where Jason was aiming inside the man. The dealer didn't know he'd survive the shot or that the gun was loaded with tranqs so he cracked. Red gun whipped him, knocking him out with one blow then returned to his bike to continue the night. He kept Jay on coms while he called the Batcave.

Alfred said "I thought you might call. Already learn something."

"I got a list of names, Alfred. Nothing major so first try."

"You're being modest. I will run the names for you, Master Jason." Jason listed them off, pointing out supplier and boss. "Any images come up? I can get emails on my helmet."

Jay interrupted "Or I could explain how to send files directly to the helmets? Like I've been trying to teach you since Arsenal built your helmet."

Alfred said "Ready when you are."

Jason said "Jay will walk you through sending the files directly to our helmets."

Jay grumbled "If you weren't so ADD I could teach you." He talked them through the transfer process, which was simpler than emailing the files and accessing them.

Jason said "Oh I got 'em. Little dangerous driving with them in front of me like this."

Jay was ready to yell at Jason, he settled for a sharp tone "Minimize the files until we get a chance to stop for more than three seconds."

Jason said "Right. I knew that. Thanks, Alfred."

"No trouble, Master Jason. Might I extend an invitation for you to return to the cave in the morning."

"I'll think about it. I think Jay's ready to shoot me at the moment. I'm going to look for a better target." He ended the call. Not long after they saw a man in an alley push a woman down. Jason instructed Jay "Go round and cut him off. Don't wanna give this guy a chance to run." Jay turned around, riding on the sidewalk to avoid a collision.

Red pulled a gun out of his jacket. Just as the man got ready to rip the woman's clothes off, he called "Hey! Douche!" The man let go off his victim as Blue Hood rode up behind him and fired his own gun.

Jason turned his mic off as Jay turned his on to ask the woman "Are you okay?" Of course she was probably the only person in Gotham who remembered Red Hood's rise and she responded by batting at Blue Hood to get away. Then Nightwing showed up. For how long Dick was following them or if the whole family was taking turns tailing the Hood duo is a mystery. There is no way Nightwing just happened to show up in the same alley the Hoods were in.

Blue Hood mounted his bike as Nightwing took the woman's hands, "You're safe now ma'am." She responded much better to the spandex clad acroBat.

Jay smirked under his hood and hooted at them "Get a room!"

Nightwing told the woman, "You need to wait here for the police if you want to stop this man."

She said "I can't." Nightwing didn't take that answer and she melted against him at his next snippet of logic. Whatever Nightwing said, the Todd boys missed.

Jason said in his coms, "She's a prostitute! Great. You shot a guy trying to get it on with a girl who does that for a living."

"How did we both miss that?" Jay replied, "It's not like we're the most sheltered boys on the planet."

Nightwing stared at the boy in the blue helmet on the adult motorcycle, "Missing something?"

"Nothing important," Red Hood answered and Blue Hood backed up before riding toward his mentor, just so he wouldn't run over the would-be rapist.

Nightwing asked "Are you guys going to join us in the morning at the cave?"

"Was ADD a requirement to be Robin? Seriously, you're both very oblivious."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starters you turned your back on the lady who wouldn't call the cops when she was almost raped and now it looks like that man's going to be more than unconscious."

"Oh." "Crap." Were the responses to Jay's logic. Nightwing took action at the turn of events.

"Secondly you look at me instead of the adult Hood to ask a question." Jay turned off his mic to continue, "Prostitute is your first instinct with a girl who hates both you and the police. I'm guessing Gotham Underground or something like that."

Jason turned his mic on, "We think she might be homeless." They both stopped to stare at him, "Who doesn't like the police or killer types? How about someone no one cares about? Someone the police would write off if they turned up in a gutter?"

The woman stopped what she was doing, Red Hood finished "I'm not gonna kill you with the kid around." She ran up to his bike, "Go home Nightwing." Dick left. On coms, Jason said "Go flag down a cop car." Jay rode off as Jason reassured the woman, "It'll be okay. We'll make sure the cops do their job, even if it means ignoring the Bat-signal for a few nights."

Jay found a car parked outside a restaurant, he revved his engine to get the cops' attention. They looked up, Blue Hood drove onto the sidewalk and they took the bait. Blue Hood said "A woman was attacked a few blocks away." They dropped what they were doing, got in their car and followed after the racing bike.

After leaving the woman with the cops, having taken the opportunity to read the files on some of the dealers, the Hood duo returned to their original mission. Blue Hood was very intuitive. He could tell when a guy was going to run almost as the duo arrived in the alley and he knew how to use his bike as a weapon. Red Hood interrogated each of the dealers to verify his information. They worked their way through dealers, Jay sent the deals' locations to the Batcave so the police could be tipped off. By the end of the night, they were working their way through the entire drug industry, handling situations like the one with Nightwing as they came up. Jay asked over the coms, "Are we staying at the Manor? Everytime one of them talks to us, they ask. If you want acceptance, we have to head to the Manor. If we do that then they might try to make us stay longer and we're doing this for access, right?"

Jason thought before answering "I'm gonna make a few calls. We might turn in there. Right now, let's just enjoy the rest of the night. Enough case work, you take the lead." That got the intended response as Jay got to explore Gotham instead of tailing Jason through the underworld. Jason made his first call to Alfred, after going radio silent. "Hey, Alfred. I think we're going to head to the cave in a few hours. Thing is, when Roy and I took Jay to breakfast he looked at Roy like he was crazy for ordering pancakes. He's never had kid food, we asked him about it and he kept looking at us like we were speaking gibberish."

Alfred said "Understood, Master Jason. If you're bringing him back, the rest of the family would like a chance to apologize for last night."

Jason said "His mom was so caught up in her scams, normal kid things even Damien takes for granted are alien concepts to him. If you can help me on this, I'll bring him over every day for a week. Don't tell the others why."

Alfred said "I look forward to this week," then ended the call.

Jason saw where they were, he turned his com back on "You wanna see something cool. I think it's open now." He lead the way and rented skates for them, engaging the helmets' cloaks.

Jay asked "Are you really taking me skating? Not very sly."

Jason said "It's technically morning and you've never done this kind of stuff. Be glad I haven't promised Dick a trip to the zoo with you."

"Don't you dare." Jay turned the cloaks off, "The clerk just left the building."

"That's weird, maybe he's on a smoke break and I'm ADD."

"How do you turn on ice?"

Jason helped him and saw what he saw, "Down. On the ice. Don't even look until I say." Jay fell, very gracefully for someone still new to skating.

Jason got off the ice and got one of the gangster's guns before they surrounded the rink. He knew from being Robin where to aim, taking out most of the gang with shots from stolen guns. He deduced the leader rather quickly and made sure not to shoot him. You do not endanger kids around Red Hood, especially his own. People thought a pissed off Batman was terrifying, true enough since most people had never heard of Red Hood. Jason used his com, "Clear. Need help getting up?"

Jay tried to get his feet under him, "Never disarming in public again." He couldn't stay balanced long enough to get both feet under him, "Help."

Jason skated over and pulled his son up, they skated off the rink. "Get your shoes on and wait by the bikes."

"We shouldn't have parked them in the open. We did just spend the night taking out gangsters on them."

"That's how they found us. Go make sure they didn't get wrecked."

Jay grabbed his shoes and ran out the door, "I don't see any damage. They probably didn't care about stranding as much as killing us."

Jason turned the skates in, "Good. Get your shoes on and don't forget where the guns are stashed." Jay rearmed himself with his shoes on, same as Jason.

Jason mounted his bike, "Still got a few hours before daylight and I still have some calls to make. You lead." He went radio silent and called Bruce, following Jay's bike. "We're going to turn into the cave in a few hours. Just got ambushed at an ice rink, remember when that was funny."

"You mean the elaborate set ups? Yes."

"Just remember to keep Damien in line and tell Dick not to touch Jay, we don't want a repeat of last night." They came across a robbery. Jay slowed and Jason gestured him forward before moving to cover his partner like Blue Hood had done all night. He asked Bruce, "Is there anyone else I should call? I'm going to call Doctor Thompkins later to arrange a visit and see if I can manage to show Jay around without getting shot at."

Batman told Red Hood, "Call Dick yourself, it's better if you explain your point. If there's anything you need or want help with while you're here Barbara's open to it. Hold on."

The robbers Blue Hood confronted tried to run when he pulled guns. Red Hood stood casually in the doorway with a gun in each hand and arms crossed. Batman finished his own confrontation as the robbers relinquished their weapons to the clerks, who received a stern warning from Red Hood not to do anything stupid.

Returning to their call, they simultaneously said "I'm back."

Red Hood said "Robbery, I let Jay take lead bike while I call you. What about you?"

"I already sent Damien home when he acted a little too aggressive. Just dealt with another dead end in my case. How far did you get in your drug case?"

"Half way through a gang after taking down as many active players as I could find. I tried to take Jay to an ice rink, we were leaving that ambush when I called."

"Just call Dick yourself, see if he listens to you."

"So is Tim really joining us? When I told Alfred, he mentioned the whole family agreed to come."

"Tim is on vacation from work for this."

"Do I need to call anyone except Dick and maybe Babs before we come?"

"Tim shouldn't be a concern."

"Thanks, Bruce. See you in a few."

"See you then, Jason."

Jason immediately called Dick. A hyper "Hey bro, you coming to the Manor later?" was his punishment for such haste.

"Dick, we need to talk about boundaries before I bring Jay back."

"You mean like don't touch his hair."

"I mean like stop being a flying monkey." Jason calmed himself, "Yes, I do mean the hair thing. Jay did the same thing to Roy when he tried that, only Roy's arm was stuck in a cast after being reset. Which didn't mellow him out at all, if anything he just became more hyper around Jay. Anything I'd hate, Jay might very well break your arm over."

"Tread carefully, got it."

"I assume Babs and Tim told you what Jay told them, about me and him."

"You mean that you got him to stop killing. That's kinda why I'm trusting you on this."

"Okay. Try to stay calm. For you that's just shy of bouncing off the walls in situations like this, but try to hide it. Alright, I'll see you in a few hours. Don't make me regret this."

"You got it." Jason hung up with more energy than the conversation should've left him. He called Jay up on the coms, "Bruce is cool with our work but Tim is still a problem. Let's get a few hours sleep at the Manor. I'll show you a cave entrance."

Jay asked "Why are you really so worried about the family liking us? I heard some of what Bruce said at the apartment, they're not gonna tear us apart. What's really going on?"

Pulling over, Jason sighed, "What's worse than dying? Well, as someone with experience in death, I can say with some confidence being an outcast in your own family is worse. Bruce still doesn't trust me with access to the Batcomputer, he may never trust me with unsupervised access but you don't have to be defined by what people think of me. You could very well become a greater hero than Batman ever will be. You're already a better person than I was at your age. It doesn't matter where I was at your age, the system says orphans belong in foster care. While I don't agree with that, I would've never been Robin if I was in foster care instead of where I met Batman. I can see I shouldn't have been stealing to survive. Jay, you could be better than every Bat if you choose to be a hero. You could be worse than the Joker if you choose that path. I just don't want you to have my life. Any other questions?"

"You think my best bet at not being an outcast is to fit in with the Batfamily. You really are ADD." He slid closer to Jason so his front wheel was parallel to Jason's back wheel. "We both belong to another family, we're Outlaws. Roy's my uncle, you're my dad. Bruce and Damien can hate us with such a fury it kills them. We have a family, acceptance isn't really an issue. I get your point, the Outlaws are outcasts but we're family nonetheless which means with or without the Bats we're not outcasts in our family. Now you were showing me the way to the cave." Jason smiled and Jay could see it (he really had to teach Jason the difference between turning their coms and their vid-link on) but at the moment, it wasn't a problem.

Arriving in the cave, Jason ran over to his shrine (the shrine to his death) where he saw a note. The note told him clothes were waiting in his old room. He gestured Jay over to the display, Jay moved the bikes over to it. "Bruce made a shrine to your death." They took their helmets and jackets off.

"Yeah and when I came back, because I came back changed, he kept it. Now it's a symbol, what the price of the job is." He took his Bat-armor off and took all his weapons out. He put his jacket over the pile and Jay did the same.

Jason said "Come on, we're going to my old room." Jay followed Jason to the elevator and they raced up the stairs, even though Jay didn't know where Jason's room was. Jason found a spare bed in his room, with pajamas on the desk. He grabbed the smaller set, "These are probably yours." He pointed to the bathroom. Jay went inside while quick-change artist Jason Todd got out of the armored trousers and into the pajama pants. Jay came out to find his dad laying on the big bed, "I'll get the light." He flicked the light off and laid down on his bed.

The family let the Todds sleep in. When Jason woke up it was 7:30, they'd slept since 2. He rubbed Jay's back, his son came to the same conclusion he had: five hours was long enough when there was breakfast under five minutes away. Jason pointed to his dresser, where he vaguely remembered more clothes had been, before pushing himself off the bed. Jay heard a thud, "Dad?"

Jason said "I'm okay, just a little clumsy."

"You mean drowsy."

"That too."

"You know I can't reach the top of your dresser."

"Forgot how high it was." He honestly forgot it was adult size. Jason stood up and gave Jay the kids' clothes before going into the bathroom himself to change.

Leaving his room he saw Dick grab Jay, "Nope. Bruce doesn't like that." He walked over, "Walk down the stairs, don't make me hold your hand." Jay shrugged Dick off and walked beside Jason down the stairs.

When everyone was in the dining room, Jay asked them "Guess who fell off the bed?" pointing his thumb at Jason. When he got surprised reactions, he added "At this point I'm used to it, he does it more than Roy."

"Like you never do it."

"Who does it more?"

"So I'm clumsy in the morning."

"I'm surprised you I don't have more arrow holes."

"Since when do I," Cutting him off, Jay stood on the chair and put a hand on Jason's upper arm. Jason said "Right, that. How do I not remember that?"

"Roy's had me climb out of a window when you get drunk. It happens a lot."

"What do you?" It dawned on Jason, "Don't explain that."

"I mean Roy's kind of an idiot." Jay held back a laugh, "Remember that time I got my own room because he locked himself in the car to sleep instead of going into check in. The one time you two didn't screw up making reservations and he still slept in the car."

"I don't, but if I remembered every dumb thing Roy did I'd probably forget your birthday."

"If! When is my birthday, dad?"

"I have access to your birth certificate."

"Okay. Do you know where my birth certificate is?"

"Uh," he drawled. "Pass."

"Roy's semi. It's in the glove box. It wouldn't still exist if I didn't put it there."

"Okay and your birthday? How am I just getting around to asking that?"

"You had my birth certificate and I've driven the truck, you got so drunk."

"Do you even know your own birthday, Jacob?"

"Who's Jacob? I have some idea when it is, which is more than you. Do you even know my birth name? I'll give you a hint, I have never legally been named Jacob. You called Roy something else for two months when you tracked down my birth country."

"I changed it to Jay Lawrence Todd. Jesse, your birth name was Jesse Mario Cortez."

"Five out of six ain't bad. My last name was Dane not Cortez. For two months Roy insisted you call him Joey, for some reason he didn't care if I called him Roy but you had to call him Joey. Neither one of you are all that smart since you tried to shoot Superman one time before the face cut off thing with the Joker."

"A, I didn't try to shoot Superman."

"I heard it happened with handguns and an alien gun. But I'm not going into detail since you don't want him to know," Jay gestured to Bruce.

"Okay so I threatened to do it. How do you even know that? It happened before you were born."

Jay stared at him for a while, "I'm not that much younger than Damian," he finally said. It hadn't clicked for the family that Damian was older, "How old do you think I am? I'll help, Damian was Robin when the face cut off thing happened. So how old would I have to be to have not been born yet?"

Jason thought then said "I hate it when you make sense. You're 6, right?"

"I just said that last night. Yeah, even Roy knows that."

"So that's how you knew about the three gun thing."

"You think an alien from a race all about love wouldn't blabber about your wonderous adventures."

"Kori told you!"

"Maybe it was Roy. Maybe I called Kori. Maybe it was neither. You're not smart enough to figure it out."

"Oh just because I didn't know the helmet was a translator."

Dick said "As funny as you two are, I thought we were supposed to apologize for all the hostility last night. I thought that was why we all came back here. A take two on last night. Since I doubt either of the dynamic duo will do it. I'll start. Sorry I grabbed your hair like that. I know Damian and Jason hate that too so probably shouldn't have done it, especially after Jason's warning."

"Sorry for threatening you, both of you," Damian grumbled.

Barbara jumped in for Tim, "We're sorry we told everyone what you told us, right Tim?"

Tim said "Yeah, we both should've known better when you shut up at dinner."

"I already apologized but Jay wasn't in the room."

Jay said "I'm well aware, Jason doesn't know half of what my helmet can do. Roy only built his as an excuse to pick apart mine after, yeah let's not go into that misadventure."

"Right, even I remember that."

Tim clarified something from earlier, "You're birth name was Jesse Dane?"

"Yeah, so?"

"There's something you gotta see on the Batcomputer later."

Jason said "That reminds me, I have to make a phone call."

As he was leaving the room, Jay held up his phone "This might be useful for calling Doctor Tompkins." Jason paused to take it, "You left the vidlink on."

"You still don't know what I'm gonna ask. I didn't say it."

"Considering the ice rink, I'm a little worried. You promised not to try the zoo, again."

"How was I supposed to know it would end that way?"

"You're you and Roy's Roy. How was it supposed to end?"

"I'm just gonna make the phone call. Your helmet is still in the cave, right?"

"Yes, dad." Jason left the room.

Barbara asked "What happened at the zoo?"

"They has a lot of trouble taking me anywhere public and not getting shot at. Though for once that didn't happen. Jason didn't even need stitches. He sometimes has a lot of trouble remembering to uncross his legs when he gets up and that's when he's sober."

Tim asked "How many times have you had to sober him up?"

"Let's just say I end up designated driver so Roy can wrangle Jason more times than he remembers."

Dick said "You must have lots of stories."

"Last night soon before we started heading here, he said just be glad I haven't promised Dick a trip to the zoo with you. All I said was he wasn't very sly when he took me ice skating after saying he had something cool to show me."

"That was last night?"

"We didn't skate long before we got ambushed. I still can't turn on ice in skates. I can do it fine in shoes, but I can't really skate."

"You must have stories," Bruce repeated, "I told Jason you're good influences on each other."

Jason came in, "You don't have to announce it. I agree with you, Bruce. Maybe having Jay around will get Roy to grow up or at least help us stop falling of the bed."

Dick asked "How often do you do that?"

Jay answered "He should probably start sleeping in his helmet if he wants to avoid further brain damage."

Stifled laughter came from half the table, Jason said "I can take a joke. You actually do sleep in your helmet, half the time."

"Yeah with the cloak on. How many times has it saved my life when you two got tailed?"

"Plenty," Jason admitted. "But Roy stays sober so that's more than it should."

"Do you really want me to go there? All the ways Roy fooled you when you got really drunk."

"Yeah, no. No thank you."

"I'd like to hear that," Dick said.

"For starters, Roy tricked him into thinking there was a fire to get him out of a bar one time. I know a lot of these stories because Roy has no filter, between us we pretty much make up for Jason's memory loss. There was another time, Roy got him in the room by aiming a cell phone at him. Pretty sure Jason would've tried to shoot a phone back at him if he hadn't passed out. Still not even close to the worst. Roy's pretended to kidnap Jason to get him away from the bar, that works best when Jason's too drunk to remember he can break the guy's arm."

"I never broke his arm. I think I'd remember the cast."

"I broke his arm once, or three times."

"I remember, I told Dick that so he wouldn't repeat last night. What other stories you got? If I was so drunk Roy had to trick me out of a bar, I obviously I don't remember."

"Roy knows how to judge your drunkenness. Closer to the worst is when he has to trick a bartender into helping him get you to the car. I remember one time Jason had his arm around this mammoth of a man and probably would've been making out with him if Roy wasn't supporting his other side. The guy was surprised to see me to say the least."

"I kinda remember that, I don't think it was one time."

"We should probably try to get handcuffs so Roy can just arrest you out of a bar."

"Yeah, good idea."

Bruce said "I can send you some if it's that big of a problem."

"It's not a problem for me as much as Jason's memory."

"I knew it wasn't concussions, I'm pretty good at knowing when I get a bad one of those."

"You told me the story of calling a slum kid a painted horse."

Barbara asked "Is he talking about when I gave you a concussion?"

Jason said "Yeah, probably."

"I am."

"We don't need to hear that one," Tim said.

"July 8th," Jason said suddenly. "Republic of Kasnia."

Jay said "Sure,"

Tim asked Jason "How long were thinking about that?"

Jason answered "It just came to me." He turned to Jay, "You're three years younger than Damian, right?"

"I don't know. I think I'm six."

Alfred said "Indeed Master Damian is three years your elder. I can print you a copy of Jay's birth certificate if you'd like, Master Jason."

"Thanks but Jay told me where our copy is. Now I just need to stay sober long enough to move it."

Jay said "You tried to make out with a bartender five minutes after leaving me in our room one time. You get drunk fast."

"Really? I thought I was gone at least an hour those times."

"Roy tells me things, lots stories about you. You rant to me about Roy. I could write a book on you two."

"Really! How much do you know?" That got his attention.

"Aside from at least one of you is ADHD, ADD at best. You both have a tendency to fall out of bed, you do it just as much sober and Roy is a recovering alcoholic who keeps having to get you from bars. Roy's AA sponsor is Killer Croc. You see no problem bringing Roy to bars or encouraging him to drink even when he tells you he doesn't think Waylon would approve of him being in a bar. You also have the idiotic tendency to make insensitive jokes, even though we say Roy makes all the jokes. Roy can build practically anything but has the maturity of a 12 year old despite his past alcoholism. You drive each other nuts and you've each shot the other one at least once. Need I go on?" Everyone stared.

Barbara said "I didn't think you were serious."

Upon recovering from his shock, Jason said "Just start writing that book, I could use the perspective."

Jay answered, "Sure thing if you'll do the actual writing. I can't spell some of those words."

"But you can use them in a sentence."

"English isn't my first language, it is yours."

"English is your second or third language?"

Jay shrugged, "It's not my first but I use it more than any other."

"I can't believe Roy was right."

"He often is but he's hard to take seriously."

"You can stop doing that now," Jason snapped. "It's great you can analyze things so easily. It's amazing you can do it but you know it gets annoying fast when you explain things."

"I know. When am I going to get the chance to show off doing it. You have the intellect of a teenager and Roy has the maturity of a 12 year old. I have you both beat and I'm not even 10."

Jason put his head in his hand and started laughing wryly, "Can't argue with that logic." When he composed himself seconds later, "Probably the only place that isn't freaky." With everyone in a better mood, breakfast went much better than dinner had. Jason joked with Jay "Someday you're gonna tell me you have super-hearing. There is no way I just tell you that much."

"Knowing you and Roy, is it really that surprising I know so much?"

"Not really."

At the end Jason said, "Come on. We're taking my bike, you can't drive in public."

Jay said "The bikes are in the cave."

Alfred said "Not anymore." The family had spent so much time talking over all the kid food Alfred made for Jay's visit, he could've spent an hour in the cave unnoticed.

Jason said "Thanks, Alfred."

* * *

Dr. Thompkins opened the door for them before Jason had a chance, "It's so good to see you, Jason."

"This is my son, Jay. Jay, this is Dr. Leslie Thompkins." Leslie said hello to Jay, who mirrored Jason's normal slacker posture and returned the greeting.

"Dr. Thompkins trusted me before Batman."

"You repaid me by stealing."

Jay said "Sounds like him."

Jason explained he didn't hide much from his son, "I was thinking if you weren't busy over the next week, you and I could show him around Gotham before we leave."

Leslie gestured towards inside clinic, "Let's begin."

During the tour, Jay tripped the two. Jason grabbed Leslie as they went down, breaking her fall with his body. Jay explained "I'm shorter than you," as gunfire tore up the place they'd been.

Jason was pissed because plenty of kids were endangered by this act of violence. He pulled a gun off a security guard and shot the idiots attacking a clinic with military precision, guns are way easier than Batarangs. During the struggle between Jason Todd and Gotham gangsters, Jay got to a rooftop across the street. The police arrived once the shooting stopped. Jay watched them ignore the men who attacked the clinic and swarm Jason. His father looked right at Jay and shook his head. The cops would've left the attackers if Leslie didn't threaten to tell Gordon. Jay slipped away and rode quickly to the manor.

He arrived as the others were leaving, they asked "Why are you back so soon?" "Where's Jason?"

Jay answered "Jason got arrested. I gotta call Roy." He ran passed them into the living room and got on the phone by the couch. As he listened to the dial tone, he muttered "Come on, Roy, you know plenty of people in Gotham." Roy took the call without saying a thing, "Jason got arrested. Cops didn't see me."

Roy turned his bike and skid to a stop on the open road "Stay right where you are. Call Oliver."

"Where am I gonna go, I'm not even ten." Jay muttered as he dialed Queen's number from memory.

Oliver answered "What?!"

"Roy Harper gave me this number." Jay spoke the rehearsed phrase calmly but even over the phone it was clear he was a kid.

Oliver asked "Who are you?"

"I am Jason Todd's son Jay. I'm supposed to call you after I call Roy if something happens to my dad. You have a better chance of getting custody than Roy. I'm guessing you recognize the number."

"Wayne Manor." Oliver reasoned, "Bruce Wayne has the best chance of getting custody."

"Just doing what I'm told. My dad got arrested."

Oliver said "I'm coming. Stay there." He hung up.

Jay grumbled "Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Okay so you had a plan in case this happened." Dick asked "Now will you tell us what happened?"

"Of course we made a plan. With all the enemies he's made and warrants out on him, something was bound to happen. Have you met Jason?" Jay turned serious, "Aside from the people here who else knew Jason was in Gotham, much less where in Gotham. I doubt Dr. Thompkins reported him since she was busy saving lives in the shootout when some gang found us. She wouldn't endanger her patients, right?"

"Walk us through what happened," Bruce said. "What lead up to Jason's arrest?"

"Dr. Thompkins was giving us a tour. I noticed something and tripped them then bullets tore through the building where they'd been standing. I'm half Jason's height so I was safe. Jason got a gun and shot back, he's a better shot than most. Dr. Thompkins ran to her patients and started treating wounds while I left. I was on the roof across the street when police arrived soon after the shooting stopped. They swarmed Jason, he surrendered and they almost left the gangsters behind. Dr. Thompkins said something to them, she looked angry, and they rounded up the men Jason had taken down. Good?"

Bruce rose "Yeah, thanks Jay."

Later, Oliver and Roy arrived at the house at the same time so Jay took control of the situation, "Your melodrama can wait, my dad got arrested. Red Hood is a Bat in Gotham."

When Roy left to talk to their friend ADA Harrold Dent, Jay spoke to Oliver and wound up telling him about Roy's daughter Lian. Oliver's better half, Dinah distracted Jay by commenting on the maturity of his words while Bruce lead Ollie away. Jay pulled away and went into the Batcave. As he was suiting up, Dick asked "Going somewhere?"

Jay kept his cool, mostly "Why does everyone keep acting like I'm going to do something stupid? I'm probably the smartest of the three Outlaws. I'm gonna take Roy to a place Jason and I already scoped out to shut it down."

Dick raised his hands in mock surrender, "In that case," he revealed compartments in Jason's shrine, "More gear."

When Roy came back to deliver the news Jason's case wasn't in Gotham jurisdiction, Jay's arranged run-in with kid versions of the Justice League took place along with a relevant explanation for the team (Blue Hood's Breachers) That could've been the last time Arsenal was at the Manor since he chased after Blue Hood less than ten minutes later. Catching up at the crest of a hill, he followed Blue Hood's lead through the mission while outwardly leading it. Jay slowed as they approached the clearing the research lab was located in. Jay told Roy how in Batman and Robin maneuvers the adult always leads. He explained that when they scoped the place out, they found it was a trap for Blue Hood. They widened the opening and Arsenal took the lead. The two Outlaws shot their way through the underground facility, cutting out security cameras. Approaching the torture chambers that were the facility's cells, Blue Hood's helmet hacked into the electronic locks and Arsenal cut the prisoners free.

The last man standing held little, terrified Lian to himself and threatened the girl if the two Outlaws didn't do what he said. Recognizing his daughter, Roy was conflicted but Jay solved the problem by shooting above Lian. The man worried about mobility with Arsenal not true safety with the gunman. Arsenal swept Lian up in his arms, Blue Hood called Artemis (A/N: YJ) and texted her a picture of Lian to make certain arrangements. At Blue Hood's urging Roy snapped back to the moment and lead the newly released captives outside. Blue Hood offered to deal with the cops so Arsenal could get the little girl home. His conversation with Commissioner Gordon got Jason released on a technicality, which was his arrest report neglected to mention the shootout at the clinic. Returning to the Manor, Jay quickly befriended Lian and helped convince her it was better to live with grandpa Ollie than daddy.

At dinner that night, Bruce had a full table. In accordance with Jason's request for kid food and because Bruce wanted as much of his family as he could dining (Alfred included), they had pizza. Jason was dropped off and Jade was arrested by the same cops before Jay revealed Tim called the cops on Jason. The Batfamily wanted to celebrate Jay's next birthday at the Manor so Tim's invitation was rescinded then and there. That night gave way to the revelation that Jay, at approximately six years old (assuming the birth certificate was his), was still the youngest person at the table. Damian was 9, most of the table was over 18; Lian was 7, going on 8. Jay's birthday was in July, two after Lian's later that month.

Bruce invited Team Arrow to stay in the Manor with his family. Roy popped up so fast to offer to help move the pull out beds, Lian and Oliver they both jumped before Ollie caught his chair. Dick also offered. Artemis and Dinah joined them, leaving Lian with grandpa and the rest of the Batfamily.

* * *

While at the Manor, the Outlaws chose to work on Jay's physical training, Roy and Jason took over a patio table with their preferred weapons. Roy sat down to work on his trick arrows and play ref for the Todds during Jason's hand-to-hand lessons, making sure they didn't get hospitalized when Jason taught by sparring. Before starting they both put their hoods on. Dick came out before Roy fired an arrow near them to stop the match. Jason pointed out "This isn't the bed of Roy's truck."

Jay agreed and flipped onto the Manor roof from his hold on his dad. Roy said "I don't think he understood what you meant."

"Agreed." Jason called "That's not what I meant."

Jay successfully took down Jason in a flip off the roof. Roy ran over to hear his partner start laughing and complimenting Jay on the move. He passed Roy saying "Tap. That was a good hit. I teach fighting, you teach flipping."

He sat on his side of the table and cleaned his equipment as the family continued to congregate on the patio, with Barbara and Tim joining Dick and Jason. Tim focused on his tablet to avoid eyes. Dick had the day off and Barbara was working an afternoon shift.

Roy begrudgingly put a bicycle helmet on before the two practiced acrobats on the lawn. A trained acrobat, Dick commented "Jay's pretty good."

Jay spiced things up by flipping Roy in a combative move. Roy tried to complain "That's Jason's department."

"Actually that is a flip." Jason tossed two guns, loaded with blanks, to the ground by Jay's feet then threw Roy his bow. Roy got his quiver as Jason set the hologram target, explaining "Show him to fire after flipping. Same rules as usual." Roy demonstrated and the two got into a competition.

Roy was first to miss the target. He hit the hologram field so nothing was damaged. Jason shut down his argument with logic, "You have to do it if we want Jay to do it." The punishment for missing was 10 pushups, Roy did a dozen before Jason asked how many he'd done.

Jay threw his gun onto the table beside his dad, without knocking over the Outlaws' gear. He threw the second one to Red Hood's right, the former Robin caught it. Before Roy's temper could get out of hand, Jason paused the moving target and traded places to cover the basics of knife-throwing. He threw a knife at the target as he tagged in, the flick knife opened as it flew. He demonstrated throwing a Batarang once while Jay was doing the push-ups for completely missing the target then again when he was standing. The second time his throwing hand was low, almost on the ground. Both shots were bullseyes. He used Batarangs for their balance, knives often weren't balanced. On Roy's urging and given Jay's prideful declaration he could make 20 hits easy, Jason chose 20 bullseyes as the requirement for Jay to move onto knives.

At some point in the hour or so they'd been training Jay, Bruce and Damian joined the patio congregation. While Jason covered throwing, Bruce told Roy "Impressive work. What does it do?" Roy explained each arrow. Dick and Barbara were impressed by Jay's discipline in doing the push-ups for missing on his first throw without arguing.

It was hard to see the archer's anger as Roy and Jason kept friendly conversation throughout training. When Jay kept easily hitting the bullseye, Roy stopped fiddling with his arrows to watch. He said "He's really good at that, you just started teaching him this."

Jason lost count talking to Roy, he asked his friend, "How many was that?" Jay had made more than 20 but Roy didn't keep count, he confirmed 20.

Jason grabbed some knives from their gear, collected the Batarangs from the ground in front of the target and went to teach Jay knife throwing. Then Arsenal shot a taser arrow meant for an adult at Jay's feet after both Todds had taken their helmets off. Everything happened almost simultaneously: Jay went down, Barbara pinned Roy to a wall, Dick raced inside for the first aid kit, Jason dropped to check for a pulse, Bruce threatened, Alfred ran over, Damian pulled a gun, Tim ran to help Jay. Next Jason exclaimed "I don't think I'm doing this right." Tim gently pulled him back as Alfred came over with Dick carrying the first aid kit not far behind (barely slower than a speedster), Barbara and Bruce threatened Roy, Damian aimed the gun. On the Manor lawn Dick pulled adrenaline out of the first aid kit, handing Alfred what he needed while Tim started helping before Jason could realize who pulled him away. Bruce switched places with Barbara, possibly the only person who could talk Batboys down. She moved Jason inside just as Bruce realized what Damian was doing and sent him inside.

The on-site medical team moved the treatment off the lawn and into the cave once they got Jay's pulse back. When Alfred no longer needed help, Babs got Dick's help with Jason in the kitchen while in the library Tim helped keep Roy from doing something stupid (trying to apologize) with Damian and Bruce's intimidating aires. Jason was a ghost, he'd fully assumed his role as Jay's sole true parent. As soon as they got inside Barbara almost randomly picked a room and after Alfred politely requested space to work, Dick tracked her down. Entering the kitchen he opened the cupboards and fridge, like he didn't notice the two and was just making a sandwich. Barbara was trying to get Jason to say something, be mean, rude, anything, just speak. She'd lured him inside but that was it, talking to him got no response. Dick's trick worked, Jason said "I know what you're doing Grayson."

Whether he thought that was trying to protect Barbara or keep an eye on them, it didn't matter it was the first response Barbara had gotten since pulling Jason away from Jay. Dick half-heartedly defended himself, "I'm just getting some food. Making a sandwich to keep my intakes up. How do you and Roy keep your intakes up? How do you keep Jay's up?"

Barbara played along, "Make a couple for us."

Jason said "We stop in diners. Roy and I can almost cook, don't really need to worry about it without a kitchen. We get by."

Dick jokingly tossed Jason an apple, he caught it and started eating. Barbara joined Dick in making some food for the family to ease the overall tension. Ignoring Jason helped him relax, Barbara mentally face-palmed when it hit her. Of course, he wasn't outgoing like Dick or Roy. He wasn't as closed off as Tim or Bruce. If he was like anyone it was Damian, so angry no one ever trusts him with walls around his heart. Damian was so upset about being compared to Jay in that he's a blood son of a Bat, how would he feel to be compared to Jason? Both of them were always being compared to Robins, Barbara thought with a frown, Tim skated by that because people compared him to Batman instead. Barbara told the two oldest boys "I'll be right back. I'm going to check on the others, make sure Tim didn't bail and Damian didn't shoot Roy."

Dick said "I think they're in the library." She nodded and left as Jason laughed, thinking she was trying to trick them into talking.

In the library she peaked in, Roy was physically unharmed so she went to Tim "I need to talk to you in the hall."

He followed her out, "What is it?"

"How much evidence do you have against Roy?"

He rolled his eyes, "This again? Plenty."

"Send it to Jason. If Roy pulls something like this again, tries to hurt Jay even without thinking, Jason will have more than enough to make sure Roy never sees Lian again. We all know threatening Jay is practically a death sentence for anyone else."

"I think a phone call to Oliver is just as effective."

"I think if Roy hurts Jay again, Jason will be too angry to think of that if he's thought of it yet. Holding evidence against him will prevent this. Which do you think is a better weapon to keep this from happening again? Enough evidence to get him multiple life sentences or Green Arrow's phone number?"

Tim said "I'll send the evidence, do you have his email?"

"One better," Tim got his phone, "I left Dick watching him. Not the best way to keep him calm."

Tim spoofed the phone, "He probably upgraded for Jay."

Barbara said "You can be persuasive when you want to. We all know Jay's birth certificate is in Roy's semi and now we know that's where they train. Think you can help Jason get Bruce on board to help keep it?" Tim glared at her, "Or do they own the place they parked it?"

Tim asked "What makes you think he'll ask?"

"Are you trying to gage my intelligence or are you honestly not convinced he will? Don't lie, I might have to stop Dick's attempt at bromance."

"I honestly don't understand Jason."

"They train in the truck, they keep his birth certificate in the truck. They live in hotels and drive motorcycles. Where would they take Jay if he gets injured in a fight? Jason will protect that now." She walked back to the kitchen, "Dick! Off!"

Jason mumbled "Thank you." He bagged his sandwiches and left.

Barbara was ready to slap Dick, "We're trying to keep him from locking himself in his room." She took a couple of sandwiches and camped out beside his door, not bothering to knock. She wasn't that desperate for a response.

He started eating his food before she sat down outside. He waited a few seconds for her speak up, to say something, to scold him for walking out or apologize for Dick's behavior. When no sound came through he went to the door, half expecting a trap, half expecting Barbara to be crying. What he found was Barbara sitting against the wall, eating like it was normal. She looked at him and he said "You're welcome inside." She accepted the offer, "Alfred's been setting out clothes for me and Jay everyday." He chuckled.

Barbara said "Oh. You're not okay. Jay's your son, your kid partner and Roy, your adult partner, shot him."

"I can't kick him off the team. I need the Outlaws."

"I swiped your phone and Tim spoofed it. He sent you evidence against Roy, enough for a couple life sentences. He won't risk losing Lian to hurt Jay. That's logic anyone can get behind."

"Thanks Barbara."

"Anything you wanna talk about? I won't let you stew."

"I'm sure I can think of some stories but just so you know 'cause no one will believe it if I say it, I don't drink. I haven't had a drop since two months before I met Jay. I act like I'm drunk on purpose, I can't play slightly drunk so all the stories are hilarious."

"What was Jay like when you met?"

"He was like me times ten. You wanna hear how we met?"

"It can't be worse than you and Bruce."

"Wanna bet?"

Flashback

Jay lost his mom weeks ago but he'd already killed quite a few, hard to believe he's only six now with all the trouble he caused. Jay's mother was a con artist but he was an early bloomer, Roy thi- we think, his mother covered up his first kills. Roy and I were meeting a government contract, a spy type. When we found him, the contact was fighting Jay. Jay had him at gunpoint, kid clearly knew how to handle a gun better than some adults because the gun was kept out of reach. We knew he was serious by the other two bodies nearby, the guy was bleeding from his wrist and his gun-hand was shaking.

I held Roy back so we watched, waiting for the kid to back down but the guy he was holding was losing too much blood and the kid's hand didn't even shake. The boy was about to pull the trigger when I let Roy tackle our contact and tried to pull a Bruce with my hood. Kid shot me twice and Roy had to pull our prideful contact away.

You took the boy in, like Bruce would?

Nope. I gun-whipped the kid with the contact's gun and left. Unfortunately, that kid was part of our mission, they identified him by one of his mom's aliases. We were supposed to either let the guy die or help the kid do the deed. I went to a bar that night to try to find another way since Roy can't violate AA law. Guess who was arguing with the bartender? He's clearly a minor but everyone was avoiding looking at the scene and the other employees were encouraging the one to give him the beer. He was not gun shy, he pulled it 'cause a guy wouldn't break the law to give him beer; a 3 year old can't legally buy beer anywhere.

You stopped him, right?

Whose story is this? I walked to the bar and pushed his gun-hand down. He spun on me, "Do you know who I am?"

"A mighty angry midget?"

You didn't.

Totally did. I pulled a Roy. One of the waitresses clued me in that his dad ran the town. I sat on the barstool beside the kid and ordered two drinks, a beer and club soda. I spiked the beer and passed it to him. The kid gave me some money, "Keep 'em comin'," he was drunk so fast from the drugs I never finished my soda. I carried him back to our place and Roy tied him up.

You met by kidnapping him.

No. I told you how we met. Our contact gave us the old man's number and the bar proved it was useful to call. I searched the kid while he was out so he couldn't escape. I let him have his gun, unloaded without the firing pin. We called his dad, sent a picture of the kid tied up and set a meet. I was sleeping on the floor, when he woke up on the bed. He was only tied up for the picture and he was out cold the whole time.

Kid,

Why are you calling him that?

I named him Jay and he never used his birth name. The kid left me and found Roy watching TV or something. Roy confused him by acting calm when confronted. He was used to seeing fear from that trick his mom played on crime lords, for me and Roy to treat him like a kid just baffled him. I came out later to find Roy tied up, one bike slashed and another missing. Luckily our contact left his vehicle when he went underground. We chased the kid to a burned down complex in yet another foreign country, I was in the car with Roy for weeks.

I almost went insane on day three but then I remembered the car had a radio, Roy took the challenge of rigging it to play free XM so I didn't have translate and drive. Roy hates a certain kind of music, I can't believe he didn't see it coming, I blared that music to get him to stop talking. He tried to change it but I can shoot and drive so he just stewed and took every opportunity to hop out.

Weeks after confronting the kid, Roy realized I'd been turning the music down at every stop and we'd ended up listening to one of his favorite kinds. I think he hit his head on something he got so excited, Jay rolled his eyes and just looked at me like do we really need him? I don't remember what he hit his head on, if he did it on purpose or where it happened.

Back up. You skipped what happened after the road trip.

Right. Well, we found the kid, he pulled a gun on us. Us being Red Hood and Arsenal not Jason and Roy. That was the first time I realized his eyes glowed, really they're unnaturally shiny. He didn't back down and after what he did to our bikes, well Roy fixed the one while we were tracking him but the one he stole was lost. Arsenal asked, in front of the kid, "We gonna shoot him?" Then he dropped his gun and surrendered.

Really? Kinda anti-climactic.

It's a true story, he really did. He asked us to shoot him. We found out after Roy hit his head that the ruins held his mom's body at one time. So I guess he wanted to join her. Roy actually agreed to shoot him but I interrupted "So you killed how many people? You shot me, tied him up, stole and slashed our bikes, ran across international borders? Probably did more than that. And now you expect us to shoot you after you've surrendered? Why?"

Roy whined "Why's it matter?"

"Wait, that bike belonged to you?"

"You really didn't notice the arrows lying around while you tied him up?"

He said "What you did was the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. What do you want?"

"An explanation for starters! Are you ADD?"

You hate that joke.

I know.

What'd he say?

He shrugged, "I didn't know that was you. Most crime bosses think I'm their kid so no one else is gonna shoot me."

"And the killing? You're not shy with that gun."

"I don't have blanks and I refuse to be a beggar or an orphan. If I stay in one place and let a boss lay claim as my father, I won't get a quick death plus it'll unite the bosses."

Roy asked "Where's your mom?"

I hadn't realized we'd been speaking English "She teach you English?"

"Dead and yes, among others. Can you shoot me now? I'm done playing 20 questions."

Roy was already beside the kid with bow down, he ruffled the boy's hair "We are way past that. Welcome to the Outlaws." He broke Roy's arm and the next three times Roy tried to mess with his hair.

Back to the Present

"The down side of a team of two, tie voting. I decided not to argue and Roy didn't rescind his invitation. That wasn't the only time we had to chase him down, we made him our scout and started his training to join the Outlaws as Blue Hood so he'd stop."

Jason stood, "I'm going to take a shower and call Oliver." He looked at her, partly expecting her to stop him.

She looked at him, "Take a change of clothes." She realized what he'd expected, "Leave the jackhammer." He shook his head and pulled clothes out of his dresser.

Barbara saw a book on his desk, "What's this?"

"You can look at it if you want. It's Jay's school stuff," he left for his shower.

She opened the book to see the family's names in cursive and printing in two handwriting styles, math on the back of the page. Jason homeschooled Jay, she knocked on the bathroom door, "Mind if I show Bruce?"

Jason answered "Go ahead. His other books should be somewhere in there, reading stuff."

Barbara called "Thanks." She found the books in a bag under Jay's guest bed.

In the library she gave Bruce the book, "Read this."

Damian chuckled "We're in a library."

Bruce complied, "Not that kind of book. Is this Jay's?"

"Yup. So are these," gesturing to the bag, "Jason homeschools Jay."

"Not that weird when you live on the road," Dick said, "my parents homeschooled me."

Barbara threw a book at Dick, "Did you cover that at six?"

It was a Kasnian history book, "No. Never got that far but wasn't Jay born in Kasnia?" He caught a book in Russian and Spanish.

Roy explained "We travel internationally so knowing multiple languages is needed, we're not going to come back to the States just for a geography book. Jason says Jay can surpass Batman, anyways, or the Joker."

"Greater than Batman, worse than Joker."

Alfred came in shortly after Barbara brought the bag down, "I have news for Master Jason."

Barbara dropped the bag by Bruce, "I'll go get him." She left the library. When the family asked Alfred for details, he refused to divulge, saying it was Jason's business and his choice to share.

Barbara asked "Are you dressed?"

Jason opened the door as he pulled a shirt on, "Alfred has news."

Jason brushed past her, calmly but quickly leaving the room. Downstairs, he looked to Barbara for directions. She pointed to the library and he peaked in, "News?"

Alfred stepped out and Barbara slipped around them into the library instead of eavesdropping. Alfred said "Jay is stable but there may be some consequences of the incident in the future."

"Consequences? Alfred, just talk to me like I'm Damian's age."

"He'll live but the being electrocuted thing might cause some trouble after he wakes up."

"Got it. Can you name anything I should look out for?"

"His brain is the biggest concern. Stuttering; trouble balancing enough to stand and walk."

"You mean motor and speech functions."

"Yes, Master Jason. I'd recommend you keep Blue Hood sidelined until you're sure Jay isn't developing symptoms."

"Okay."

"I'm going to make a list of potential side effects. Master Jason, the human mind runs on electric signals. Your son's body was overrun with electricity. The side effects are numerous."

"I'm not going to just skim the list with his life on the line if that's what you're trying to tell me."

"Very good."

"Right now it looks like he will wake up, right?"

"Yes, Master Jason. Jay is at a lower risk of dying."

"Good and thank you Alfred."

"The choice is yours to tell the rest of the family or not," Alfred went to the kitchen to begin preparing food.

Jason stayed in the hall to call Oliver. There was some debate over the punishment's severity. Oliver wanted to throw the book at him and make sure he never sees Lian again. Jason argued that was punishing both Roy and Lian. He favored leveraging visitation and kicking Roy out of Gotham, without his gear. Oliver agreed but insisted Roy stay away from Lian for at least a year. Jason pointed out Jay's birthday party was in two months and Oliver agreed to let them take Lian to the Manor as long as Roy was kept on a leash.

Jason finally entered the library, in Kasnian he said "Hall. Now."

Roy made a joke about sentencing as Jason shoved him out. He delivered the agreed upon sentence, specifying Roy leave Gotham not just the Manor. Then Jason joined the family in the library, Tim asked "What's the news on Jay's condition?"

"He'll wake up but he was still electrocuted so I gotta sideline Blue Hood for a while. Alfred's going to give me a list of potential side effects, it's gonna be long 'cause the brain runs on electricity and his body was overloaded. He might have trouble balancing to stand."

Bruce said "He is younger than any of you were when you started as Robin."

"And he's my son so side-lining is gonna be a nightmare. I once locked him in a hotel bathroom to keep him off a mission, no joke."

"I believe you."

"He's not staying here. If he wakes up before I leave, he's coming with me."

Dick said "I hate to be the voice of reason on this but if he can't balance to stand, how's he gonna balance on a motorbike? Even riding on the back of yours, balance might be an issue."

Jason said "I said if he wakes up before I leave. If he doesn't Roy and I still have work to do, not doing it can be just as dangerous as doing it."

He was clearly stressed, even a normal person could see it. Bruce said "You wanna go sit with him? If Alfred says he's stable, probably won't hurt for you to sit by him." Jason said nothing as he left to do just that.

The family discussed the new Bat duo's situation. Jason did more for Jay than Bruce and Alfred had for any Robin but now he was helpless to do anything for his son. He couldn't kick Roy out of the Outlaws and he really had no one else he was very close to. As they reached that detail in describing the situation, Dick had an idea, "That's not true. Roy isn't the only one Jason founded the team with, they started as a team of three. Starfire was an Outlaw."

Barbara asked "Can you call her?"

Bruce shot down the idea, "I'll talk to him later."

Dick stood "I'm going to go, cool off before I start acting like Jason." He went onto the patio and started clearing the Outlaws' table as he paced.

"I need some air," Tim Drake followed Dick out and joined him on the patio. He sat at a table near the corner of the patio, thinking. He needed to rationalize Roy's impulsive action, electrocuting a six year old couldn't be an accident.

Bruce left the library soon after Tim and to his annoyance Barbara escorted Damian upstairs. She played to his ego and admitted she needed company. She stayed with him, getting Damian to distract her like she had Jason.

Bruce sat beside Jason, his son said "I don't need a babysitter."

"Did I ever tell you how hard it was to watch you Robins go out and get shot at? It never gets easier. Every time I see one get closer than the others, I want to throw a Batarang a little closer than the others. With Damian I've seen that urge embraced and it scares me."

Jason said "Jay knew more than he should, he knew the consequences of his mom's schemes. When we caught him after we spent months chasing him, he asked us to shoot him. Staying in one place too long could cause a worldwide crime war."

Bruce said "I didn't know,"

Jason leaned back, unconsciously towards Bruce, "Every week growing up he had a different dad and a different name. Jay was supposed to be spelled with one letter."

Bruce put an arm on Jason, "We have access to the best medical technology, Jay will make a full recovery."

"Alfred told me he might develop trouble balancing enough to stand. The brain runs on electricity."

Bruce said "That's why we have to monitor him after he wakes up but most damage can be treated."

Jason took Jay's compressed helmet out of his pocket. He turned to Bruce, "This can do a lot of stuff I don't know about. Maybe it can monitor things."

Bruce took it to the Batcomputer, "Alfred's going to call us to tea."

Jason asked "Is that a classic trick to get you out of the cave?"

"It's just classic Alfred."

Dick was ready to scream in frustration when Alfred stepped outside "Some things can't be rationalized. It's one of the hardest things for someone like Master Bruce. Even with his experience, talking to Master Jason will prove a challenge."

Tim stood "Can we help you in the kitchen before we go crazy?" Dick flanked him, clenching his fists.

Alfred gave a kind smile, "Let's make tea for everyone." The boys followed him, glad to have something they could help with.

Barbara's trick worked and she left the room so Damian could process his emotions. She joined Alfred in the kitchen, "Need a hand?"

Alfred smiled, "I already have two." She saw Dick and Tim.

Alfred led her outside, warning the boys to mind the recipe. On the patio, he asked "You've kept busy helping the rest of the family. How are you fairing?"

"Not too well. I can't believe Roy did that. He sent a wired arrow flying at a six year old. Even a regular arrow would've done some damage."

"I know. The hard truth is he likely wasn't thinking. Perhaps all he saw was Jason is closer to Jay than he ever was to Roy. Perhaps there was no motivation of any kind, just impulse."

"I know but to target a six year old, one you live with, like that."

"I know." He kept Barbara company as the afternoon neared a close.

When the food was done Dick ran upstairs to get Damien while Tim notified Alfred and Barbara. After dinner to keep an angry Jason off the streets, Batgirl drugged Red Hood with a hallucinogenic knock out drug.

Jason woke up in bed and just laid there, thinking. The arrow could've hit him. Why didn't he block it? Why wasn't he watching Roy? Why was Roy aiming for Jay? Alfred came in, "Up and at 'em. You're going to help me today so you don't brood."

Jason took the excuse for a distraction surprisingly well. Bruce, on the other hand, questioned Jason's involvement in Alfred's work. He quickly got in line with Alfred's plan. Alfred sent the other three to their respective jobs for a distraction. Bruce took Damian to Wayne Enterprises as his working distraction, or rather Bruce gave him a choice between working with him at Wayne Enterprises and Alfred at Wayne Manor. The Batfamily repeated this routine for nearly two weeks, after a few days Batgirl and the adult Batboys took turns joining Red Hood at night. Jason stayed in Gotham for Jay's recovery, spending hours at his bedside.


End file.
